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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | June 2007 
Year After Contested Mexican Presidential Race, Leftist Seeks to Re-Ignite Movement
 E. Eduardo Castillo - Associated Press
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| | Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador |
Mexico City - The leftist who barely lost Mexico's closest presidential election in history is betting on a weekend rally to re-ignite his flagging political movement, calling supporters to an enormous march on the capital's central plaza.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador electrified Mexico on the campaign trail in 2006 then, challenging a count that showed he lost, vowed to undermine the new administration.
But it has not happened that way. Lopez Obrador now barely makes the news with his low-budget nationwide speaking tour and a pre-dawn weekly TV show paid for by supporters.
Lopez Obrador drew hundreds of thousands to protest rallies in the weeks after the election and the size of the crowd at Sunday's rally, on the one-year anniversary of the vote, could thrust the former Mexico City mayor back in the spotlight — or expose his weakness.
"Yes, it is an important test," said Jose Agustin Ortiz, political relations secretary for Lopez Obrador's self-declared "legitimate government," an ad hoc collection of political allies.
"We are optimistic, but yes, it would be a sign of weakness if we don't meet our goals."
Since taking office on Dec. 1, President Felipe Calderon has earned 65 percent approval ratings with a war on drug trafficking that has sent thousands of soldiers and federal police to combat well-armed cartels.
But a recent poll published in the Mexican newspaper Reforma found that 38 percent of Mexicans still believe that last year's election was marred by fraud, and 62 percent believe there is still bitterness within Mexican society over the hard-fought race. The poll questioned 1,515 adults in person nationwide and had a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.
Yet it is not clear whether those skeptics all support Lopez Obrador.
Mexico City's new leftist mayor, Marcelo Ebrard, has emerged as a popular figure in his own right with projects that include urban beaches for Easter vacations and closing public streets for bicyclists on the weekend.
Analyst Jose Antonio Crespo of the Center for Economic Research and Education said a large crowd on Sunday would "confirm that there is still discontent, and that even though they haven't opted for confrontation, the people aren't completely happy."
The rally coincides with the weekend release of Lopez Obrador's book — "The Mafia Robbed Us of the Presidency" — and an outdoor photo exhibition depicting the protests that blockaded the center of Mexico City for weeks after the election.
Lopez Obrador's supporters camped out on kilometers (miles) of Mexico City's downtown streets, alleging election fraud and demanding a vote-by-vote recount.
Lopez Obrador declared himself Mexico's "legitimate president" last fall, shortly after the country's Federal Electoral Tribunal dismissed his challenges and ruled that he lost to Calderon.
Calderon's inauguration turned into a shoving match on the floor of Congress, where Lopez Obrador supporters tried to block him from taking office.
But after months of protests and uncertainty over the country's highest office, many Mexicans were eager to move on.
Lopez Obrador vowed to shadow Calderon and be the president's main critic, but even Ortiz admits that goal has not been met.
On a weekly television show and traveling from town to town — 525 locations and counting — Lopez Obrador continues to rail against the government, but no longer mobilizes millions. Few people outside of those who attend his local rallies even know of his activities.
But Colegio de Mexico analyst Lorenzo Meyer said Lopez Obrador has not lost all of his support.
"He's somewhere between where he wants to be and where his adversaries wish he was," he said. |
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